Here at cleverbridge, we understand that expanding your subscription business globally has great appeal, and that doing so is more complicated than it appears on the surface. One the one hand, the internet makes it easier to acquire customers outside your home market. But to effectively mitigate risk and manage the complexities of global compliance, you have to constantly monitor an ever-changing regulatory landscape, and keep your tools and processes updated accordingly. Whether it’s issues related to taxation, data privacy, information security or the shopping experience, adhering to regional and industry rules is tricky. That’s why this month on the cleverbridge Blog, we had a strong focus on global compliance issues.
Going Global
Why You Should Let Your Business Travel | Todd Garcia
In this post, Todd Garcia, Senior Account Executive at cleverbridge, explains why you should seriously consider expanding your business into the global market. First, markets in Europe and Asia Pacific are growing. More and more consumers are coming online and shopping. So limiting your online business to local buyers means losing opportunities to grow your revenue. Second, the technology and expertise to assist your business in its global expansion is readily available: “The hurdles of multi-currency transactions or limited access to global payment methods are a thing of the past,” writes Garcia. Ultimately, the internet economy makes it exponentially easier for vendors of digital goods and services to acquire new customers in new geographies.
Global Subscription Experiences
Three Compliance Risks for Global Subscriptions | cleverbridge
This post looks at three areas of the customer experience that can expose your business to significant risk: the sign-up process, email marketing and renewals. These are just some of the issues that arise when you offer subscriptions to a global audience. Knowing how to protect your business will ensure that your efforts at improving your market share in key target markets will lead to more subscribers, more recurring revenue and greater customer lifetime value. Your alternative is plateauing subscriber growth or plunging into uncharted territory without guidance — a good way to inflict your business with customer complaints, lawsuits and regulatory fines.
Data Privacy and Information Security
Three Frameworks for Data Privacy and Information Security | cleverbridge
Beyond building a compliant shopping experience, global compliance involves protecting sensitive data like payment and personal information. There are many frameworks that governments and industry groups have created to assist businesses with this complex task. The main ones discussed in this article are PCI DSS, ISO and GDPR.
Credit Cards: A Nightmare Story | Craig Vodnik
cleverbridge Co-Founder Craig Vodnik examines just how vulnerable companies are to problems surrounding data privacy and information security even when they adhere to industry frameworks like PCI DSS. A recent case of a credit card data breach was associated with a global payments company. Even though that company had strong protections and secure systems in place, and was found to not be at fault for the the breach, the experience must have been challenging for the company. Craig’s main message here is that frameworks like PCI DSS are not a guarantee against hackers gaining control of your customers’ sensitive data. They are in fact, just the first layer of information security, which is why many companies choose to outsource these compliance issues to companies that live and breathe security.
Selling Online for the Holiday Season
Three Types of Emails That Create Strong Affiliate Relationships | cleverbridge
The last quarter of the year begins next week, and if statistics and history are any indicator, it should prove to be your most lucrative quarter. You should have already planned your campaigns to boost your revenue for this holiday season, but even if you haven’t, it isn’t too late. Your affiliates are one channel you need to tap to get this boost of revenue. This post from cleverbridge Online Marketing Coordinator Jenny Rooth offers best practices for communicating with your affiliates. This is the time for vendors to strengthen their communication with affiliates in order to take advantage of November and December to generate lots of holiday season sales.
